"I tell people all the time, 'He's pure gold,' " first-year running backs coach Bryan McClendon said. "It's going to be hard to find another Shuan Chapas out there. Just a guy with his size and his athletic ability that can catch the ball well. ... We're blessed to have him. He makes coaching that position really easy."

While Stafford and Moreno are now NFL rookies with $54.7 million combined in guarantees, and endorsement deals to boot, Chapas is taking classes in the Terry College of Business, eyeing a possible future after football in sports marketing.

"I still laugh when I see them on TV because just a couple of months ago, they were here with us," Chapas said. "It's pretty funny."

The St. Augustine, Fla., native emerged as the Bulldogs' top fullback last season after Brannan Southerland suffered a broken foot in the summer. Southerland had 25 career starts before last season, but never overtook Chapas for the starting job after returning at midseason.

"I just went out every day and proved that I could get the job done," Chapas said. "I think over time they saw that and let me keep playing when he got back."

The 6-foot-2, 238-pound Chapas helped clear room during Moreno's rush to 1,400 yards and 16 touchdowns last season. Now he'll do the same for tailbacks who have a combined 87 collegiate carries between them.

"Chapas is not a senior, but he has seniority in that bunch," coach Mark Richt said. "He is a good calming factor. He knows what to do. He's absolutely a guy that wants to help the young guys. It makes a difference."

Georgia's offensive line, which returns all of its starters from last season and gets left tackle Trinton Sturdivant back from a knee injury, will be counted on to create running room for the unproven tailbacks, but so will Chapas.

"He has to read out runs just like tailbacks do," Cox said. "It's not one of those things where he just runs straight ahead and hits somebody in a different colored jersey. He's got to read the nose guard, which way he goes, whether he's going to wind it back to a cutback line or stay forward on his track.

"When you have a guy that knows what to do like that, it makes a tailback's job a lot easier, following him and finding the right hole. Even in our pass protection, play-action stuff when we have two backs in the gun, you know that side that he's on, he knows what to do."

Chapas showed he could be an option in the passing game when he had three catches for 50 yards against Tennessee and he snagged an 11-yard touchdown pass against Kentucky in a 42-38 Bulldogs win.

After A.J. Green and Michael Moore, Chapas' nine catches for 120 yards are the most returning for the Bulldogs.

"Only time will tell, but I'd like to think I can get some good yards for us," said Chapas, who also had 25 rushing yards on seven carries.

"He steps his game up a little bit every year," backup fullback Fred Munzenmaier said. "He's already at full throttle. I watch him. He's kind of my guy I watch when I need to know how to do something because he does everything right, he does everything full speed, he finishes people off."

Others are watching Chapas as well, including Thomas, who currently is behind Samuel on the tailback depth chart.

"He's a guy even in the weight room, I kind of followed my redshirt year," Thomas said. "I watched how he worked and saw what he did. He does it with a positive attitude and he works it every day. Just like on the field. I'm just glad to be in the same backfield with him and following behind him."